If I owned it, I would be rich and not at all worried about the economy. As it is, I'm not rich, I don't own Harry Potter. Sorry.
Part Three: Until They're Before Your Eyes
January 1971
Andromeda nearly lost her balance as she spilled out of the fireplace in Slughorn's office. Automatically she reached out with her left hand to steady herself by grabbing the edge of the fireplace, the nearest thing to her and realized yet again that while she now had full control of her elbow, she still didn't have complete control of her wrist and her fingers were still boneless and floppy. She lost her balance completely and fell to the ground, wincing as her knees hit the harsh stone hidden just below the rug. "Not very graceful are you?" Slughorn asked. She looked up at him to see him coming towards her from the other side of the room.
"The arm throws me off," she told him, meeting his eyes as she tried to scramble to her feet. Her bag that she had slung over her left shoulder and against her right side impeded the process. Professor Slughorn reached her and offered a hand but she was nearly up and she got to her feet without his help. She stood in front of him, biting her lip as she stared around the room, quite conscience that she was a bit taller than he was.
"They couldn't heal you all the way then?" he asked, looking at her arm.
"It was a curse. It wouldn't heal right so their using a more muggle way," she answered. She saw his eyes glance at her fingers. If she knew her potions properties, the potion's professor certainly would.
"Mmm," he agreed, looking at her carefully. He seemed uncertain.
"I'll just go now," she replied glancing at the door. Her head of house nodded at her as she headed towards the door out of his office.
"Andromeda," he asked suddenly right before she opened the door, "did they happen to mention anything about your application while you were there?" Her right hand rested on the doorknob.
"Um, yeah, actually," she answered, looking down at the ground as she felt a grin come across her face. "I- I got the job. I start training with Tor- Victoria Brigham in June if I get the right scores on my N.E.W.T.'s." He sighed. Andromeda looked back at him. He looked even more confused but he managed to smile at her.
"Knew you had it in you," he said, forcing a bit of a chuckle. Andromeda nodded and then pushed open the door, slipping into the hallway, her bag still under her right arm. She sighed as the door shut behind her and she set in the direction of the stairs; she had to go down to the Slytherin dungeon to put her things away. She wished she didn't.
It was already two days into the term. Andromeda had only been in the hospital for four days. Ted would still be there for another couple of days. She wished she could have stayed with him, stayed in the hospital. Tori, Healer Brigham had told her to call her Tori, had let Andromeda move around as much as she wanted. She had prompted that the more Andromeda got blood flowing through her arm the faster it would heal, the more to the baby, the higher the chance her daughter had of making it. Besides, Andromeda had gotten to follow her around, leading to what rather turned into a three day long interview. After the first half day or so, Andromeda had forgotten that part, at least until her last day there. Tori had sat her down and told her what she needed to receive on her N.E.W.T.'s to be in Spell Division and Tori's personal condition: she wanted Andromeda married before she started working there. Black was not a good name for someone in Spell Division to have, especially not right now. Tonks was neutral; Tonks would be okay.
Andromeda's feet led her to the wall hiding the common room, and she muttered the old password, hoping it hadn't changed over the holidays. To both her relief and dismay, it hadn't. With a deep breath, she walked into the common room and slowly began to feel eyes pouring over her. For a moment things were quiet. Some of the younger students kept on their conversations until they heard the silence around the room. Andromeda decided just to hurry for her dorm when she heard a loud wolf whistle from one of the couches away from the fire. Her eyes reflexively looked over to see fifth year boy sitting there, his friend bearing a huge grin. "Hey, Black, you'll get down with a mud-blood so how about take a step up and get with me? I'll even let you pick the time," he called as his friend cackled. Andromeda clenched her teeth and began heading towards the stairs.
"I wouldn't dare do it if I were you," one of the girl's in Andromeda's year piped up. Her eyes fixed on Andromeda. "You'd probably catch some disease. No doubt she'll die painfully because of it," she said, her eyes narrowing. Andromeda's stomach clenched. She felt mad and wished hard she could run without sacrificing even more of her dignity. Her dormmates had never been unfriendly to her before. They had never been close but things had never been bad between them. She swallowed hard and walked on, passing the couch nearest the stairs towards the girls' dormitory. Her eyes fell upon the one person in the room not looking at her. Narcissa was sitting on the couch looking carefully at her textbook. Lucius sat next to her with his arm around her shoulder, looking smugly at Andromeda. His friend sat next to him.
"Look it Lucius. Here comes your future sister-in-law," his friend sneered.
"Don't be an idiot. Narcissa has nothing to do with her anymore, do you Cissy?" he asked her.
"I talk to Bellatrix all the time," she replied, looking up, her eyes still carefully avoiding the direction Andromeda was in compared to her.
"I meant your other sister." Narcissa gave Lucius a look of total confusion as Andromeda headed up the stairs. Suddenly she felt her feet slip and she fell, managing to catch herself before she went down more than one stair. She turned around and glared to see Lucius standing at the end of the stairs smirking as she got to her feet, a trip jinx. Andromeda turned and glared at him, her hand on her own wand.
"Aren't you an annoying little puppet?" she asked him darkly, pulling her wand out and pointing it at him and returning a hex before turning her back and heading upstairs. She heard him yelp like a small puppy as she went.
One of her roommates was sitting on her bed, writing a letter but she scrunched up her nose, glared, picked it up and left. Andromeda sighed and dropped her bag down on her bed before sinking down on it herself. She leaned her back against the headboard and stared across the room. Before, she had intended on leaving to go to the library as soon as she dropped off her bag. Now she had absolutely no desire to go through the common room again.
"Andromeda?" someone asked softly from the doorway. She looked up to see Francis standing there with her backpack on, her eyes wide.
"Yeah?" she asked. Suddenly Francis shot forward, dropping her bag with a thud as she hurried forward. She threw her arms around Andromeda as she reached the bed, practically falling on to her as she climbed up on Andromeda's bed at the same time. Francis caught herself and sat back on her knees.
"I've missed you."
"Obviously," Andromeda told her. Her young friend looked nearly in tears.
"I- there were rumors that you were- I didn't think they were true since you owled me the day before we came back but you could have been-"
"They said I died?"
"It was just one of the rumors. There's a ton buzzing around."
"Great." Francis suddenly leaned forward and hugged her again. "Are you alright?" Andromeda asked. "They weren't mean to you were they?"
"No more so than usual," she answered looking down on the ground. Andromeda flinched. Francis had not been treated very well since last year when the war had broken out fully. Many people had ignored her but there were always those who were plain out mean. "I've just- I've- I-"
"You missed me?" Andromeda asked her. Francis nodded and then looked away.
"I don't know if I'm going to make it through this alone."
"Francis-"
"No I'm serious. Worrying about you was enough. And Frank wants to be an Auror, did I tell you that?"
"I think you've mentioned it before," Andromeda replied, crossing her legs into a pretzel.
"I don't want him to get hurt," she said quietly. "He's going to get hurt. And I'm going to worry about him. And I don't like worrying about him."
"You don't know he's going to get hurt."
"If he becomes an Auror he will."
"You don't know he'll do that. He's got another year and a half. He could change his mind."
"He won't," Francis said shaking her head. "And neither will Alice."
"She want to be an Auror too?" Francis nodded.
"I don't like worrying."
"I don't think anyone does."
"Can't they just capture him? Can't they capture You-Know-Who? Then Frank and Alice, maybe they wouldn't want to be so brave and I wouldn't have to worry about you and- and my mum and dad and-" Tears began to stream down her face. "I don't like this!" Andromeda reached out and pulled her friend close to her, stroking her hair as she cried.
The next morning, Andromeda left her dorm early, gathering her books and heading out of the room before anyone else woke. There were very few people in the common room and they ignored her as she passed. She walked up the stairs to Professor Flitwick's office; she knew he was an early riser. He was already awake and was willing to fill her in on what she had missed the first couple days of the term. As she was about to leave he stopped her and wished her luck. She managed a slight smile and moved on to breakfast.
The day seemed both terribly long and terribly short. She kept catching being looking at her in the halls. Most of the Gryffindors seemed to be staring at her unsurely. A lot of her fellow Slytherins skirted to the other side of the hallway, glared, tried to trip her, or a combination of the three. Many Ravenclaws were gossips; a few paid attention to her but most of them were already moving on to more interesting topics of discussion. The Hufflepuffs were a much varied group, ranging from raised eyebrows, to complete neutrality, to a girl in her Herbology class who suddenly decided she wanted to be Andromeda's friend. All in all, she was grateful for the library after her classes that day when she could find a secluded table, away from everyone else. She was already working on catching up on her Herbology homework when Frank showed up near her.
"Have you seen Francis?" he asked.
"She's still in Transfiguration," Andromeda told him, glancing up from her book.
"Oh, yeah, I suppose. Um, can I sit down?" he asked, seeming vaguely nervous.
"I guess so," Andromeda answered, looking at him suspiciously. He sat down but didn't say anything and she looked back down at her book again. He took a deep breath.
"Are you okay?" She looked up again to see that he was looking at her arm.
"It'll be fine soon enough."
"That's good. How's, um, that guy, the one you- the one-"
"Ted?" Andromeda asked him, her brow crumpling in confusion.
"Yeah him."
"He's going to be fine. He gets out of the hospital soon."
"He's still there then?" Frank asked in surprise.
"Yeah but he's been teasing me since nearly the moment we got there. He's going to be just fine," she assured him. It had taken her a while to be assured herself but then Frank wasn't nearly as connected.
"That's- that's good then."
"I certainly think so," Andromeda answered dryly. Frank was quiet for a moment and she turned back to her book.
"She's been living in the library and she stayed in Alice's dormitory the night before last," Frank told her. "She's scared to be alone in the Slytherin dungeon." Andromeda looked up at him. His voice was firmer.
"I'm sorry. I never meant to-"
"It's not your fault or anything," Frank said, looking down at his feet and blushing. "I didn't mean it like that. I mean you were in the hospital. There's nothing you could do about that and you are going to leave at the end of the year anyway and, I mean, she's not the only one. I know a friend of Alice's who's in Hufflepuff whose dormmate keeps letting a Slytherin girl share her room. None of the Hufflepuffs mind but of course some of Alice's dormmates might. I mean, she's a Gryffindor and Francis is a Slytherin and they don't- they don't-"
"Get along so well?" Andromeda suggested as Frank sat down in a chair across the table from her.
"Yeah."
"She's in Charm's Club."
"Yeah, I heard. Alice is in it too. I just- she needs friends."
"I'm not about to try and stop her."
"I was just seeing that you agreed. I don't- I thought that's what's best but I don't really understand your house."
"I've seen that before."
"I mean she's one of their own, you know? They shouldn't treat her like they do, like she's not good enough."
"I have a feeling Gryffindor would too, if the circumstances were right. So would any of the rest of them, you know that. What if a supporter of You-Know-Who showed up in the middle of your house?"
"Yeah, I guess," Frank agreed.
"She's never going to fit in to Slytherin. She loves you too much."
"Then why did she choose to be there? You can tell it no. You can tell the stupid hat no," Frank growled.
"Because she wanted to be different from you," Andromeda sighed. "She'd always been compared to you. If she was in Slytherin, she thought the comparisons would stop. The hat gave her a choice. Slytherin was an option. She wants to be independent. She wants to be on her own." Frank managed to grin.
"She's always been like that. Always really good at finding out how to get into things when we were little."
"Mmm," Andromeda agreed.
"She didn't want to be me?"
"That's my theory."
"She's not. Can't she see that?"
"I think she sees it fine. The problem is she doesn't think everyone else can see it. Or she didn't. I think she's more secure in the fact now."
"I want her out of Slytherin."
"I know. I do too."
"Do you think we could petition Dumbledore to have her resorted? I mean, considering the circumstances."
"It wouldn't do any good. She's still the same person. She'd go right back," Andromeda told him and then gave him a weak smile. "And you know it too."
"Slowly I'm grasping it." He sighed. "I used to think Slytherins were all pureblood maniacs." Andromeda shook her head.
"No more than all Gryffindors are strong fighters for the rights of muggle-borns and muggles."
"Right, I suppose." He shook his head.
"She's going to be okay," Andromeda assured him. "She is a Slytherin. She's going to look out for herself. She already knew things were going to change this year. That's why she joined Charms Club, why she's working on making new friends outside our house."
"Yeah, I know. She's just- she's my little sister and I don't want her to get hurt. Even if I do fight with her," he added hastily, catching Andromeda's eye.
"You haven't fought so much this year.'
"I guess not," he shrugged.
"Frank, can I ask you a question?"
"I guess," he said, looking a bit surprised.
"Why aren't you in class right now?" He winced.
"I blew up a cauldron," he admitted.
"Oh."
"And it filled the whole Potions dungeon with smoke."
"That's not good."
"And it was green and we had to be evacuated."
"I see."
"The potion was supposed to be purple. Not green."
"Not green," Andromeda nodded. Frank sighed.
"I'm never going to manage an Exceeds Expectations on Potions, am I?"
"Do you need to carry on with Potions?"
"I want to be an Auror," he spoke up.
"I know."
"You do?"
"Francis told me."
"Oh that."
"So you need Potions?" He nodded. "Why not a different job? You could be on Magical Law-"
"No."
"There's lots of things you could do to-"
"No."
"You're being-"
"Stubborn? Idiotic?"
"I was going to throw in self-limiting but yes that's the general list."
"This is what I want to do. I know it's dangerous. I know it's hard. But I want to," he replied, his eyes set and certain. Andromeda nodded. She understood.
"Do you want help?"
"What?"
"Do you want help? I'm in N.E.W.T. level potions. I didn't pull an Outstanding in Potions but I obviously got an Exceeds Expectations." His eyes narrowed.
"What's in it for you?"
"I get out of the Slytherin dungeon, I get practice on my own Potions, and I get on Slughorn's nerves if you get into Potions next year."
"Why is it a good thing for you to get on Slughorn's nerves?"
"Because I didn't like being collected before and I certainly don't like the way he's debating whether I'm collectable now."
"Remind me never to make you mad."
"I'm not mad. Just a bit annoyed, that's all."
"You haven't seen me in Potions."
"Do you want help?"
"Just like that?"
"No, one condition."
He sighed. "I should have guessed. What is it?"
"You have to ask out Alice Hale?"
"What kind of a condition is that?"
"The kind of someone who's friends with your sister and knows she'll be driven nuts over the summer if you two don't start going out soon. Francis told me she and her boyfriend broke up over break."
"She doesn't like me like that."
"And Professor Kettleburn doesn't like pinching the buttocks of every female professor." Frank grinned.
"You really think she likes me?"
Andromeda closed her eyes and shook her head. "Do you agree or not?"
"I don't- if she doesn't- if you're- fine!"
"Fine?"
"Fine," he grumbled.
"See you tomorrow after dinner," she remarked as cheerfully as possible.
"Why are you doing this? Francis doesn't like that I want to be an Auror."
"No, but you'll find a way no matter what won't you?"
"Yes," he said without a slight bit of hesitation.
"Then why not let me manipulate the situation to my advantage."
"Why else are you doing this?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. Andromeda smiled a little.
"Francis won't tell me exactly what's going on next year. She didn't tell me about all her time in the library or being in Alice's dorm when I was gone."
"So you're looking for me to write to you?"
"No. Like you'd write to me anyway."
"Then I don't see-"
Andromeda smiled. "If you ask her out and I had something to do with it, Alice will."